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February 08, 2014

Sandi Holt ripped open a bag of wood shavings and scattered the bedding material on the floor of her horse’s stall.

“We’ll go through four bags a day per stall,” said Holt, a 62-year-old trainer from Winter Haven Ranch in Aubrey. “We like to keep things really cushioned.”About 30 feet away in the Burnett Building – basically an enormous barn where horses are kept until it’s time to perform in the adjacent Will Rogers Coliseum or the nearby John Justin Arena – Coleman Roberts was mucking out a stall after a horse was removed. The 23-year-old temporary employee’s job for the duration of the Stock Show is scooping up old bedding and everything the horses leave behind.But most of the stuff Roberts shovels isn’t bound for a landfill. It goes into a special container marked “Compost: Manure & Bedding Only.”The Stock Show goes through about 87,500 cubic feet of wood-shavings bedding during its 23-day run, said horse show manager Bruce McCarty.Nobody could estimate how much manure gets added to that bedding, but Kim Flood, district sales manager for Progressive Waste Solutions, said that in the last three years partnering with the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, the company has averaged more than 2,100 tons of waste per show.“We have diverted more than 80 percent of that from local landfills,” Flood said.By Friday, Flood predicted that this year’s show would surpass past years’ production.Everything produced by horses, cows, pigs, goats, sheep, llamas, rabbits and chickens is taken together to a local composting facility and “added as a key ingredient to a highly engineered organic top soil product which is used for many applications,” Flood said.Considered separately, rabbit and chicken manure are about the best to use on plants, because of high concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, said Karen Hall, applied ecologist with the Botanic Research Institute of Texas.“All manures should be composted first before use, otherwise you risk burning and pathogen exposure,” Hall said. “In general, composted horse and cattle manure have a good balance of nutrients.”More weed seeds tend to survive horse and cattle digestive systems, Hall said, but proper composting should eliminate that threat.“These manures, along with llama, are really good for adding organic matter to soils, helping them retain water better and improving soil texture,” Hall said.Plant professionals tend to avoid pig manure, because it has the potential for carrying human pathogens, Hall said.The manure from sheep and goats is drier, easier to use and has less odor than some others, and it has lots of nitrogen and potassium, Hall said.Everything mixed together and composted would produce a pretty good fertilizer, Hall said.“However, I might be a little cautious about using manure that is mixed from unknown sources, given the somewhat recent spate of composts retaining herbicide effects even after digestion through the cow,” she said. – Terry Evans

Before: Sandi Holt, 62, with Winter Haven Ranch in Aubrey, spreads bedding for one of the ranch's horses at the Fort Worth Stock Show. Photo by Terry Evans

February 07, 2014

It isn’t uncommon for steers to break away from their handlers while being shown in the Watt Arena at the Fort Worth Stock Show. In fact, it happens a lot.But Friday, in one of the early classes of middleweight European cross, a steer turned unexpectedly and with enough force to knock the girl handing it to the dirt, and knock the wind out of her.Cattle superintendents Charlie Geren and Warren Mayberry charged to the rescue. State Rep. Geren helped the girl to a sideline chair.Mayberry, an Austin lobbyist, got the steer under control. Then, seeing that the girl wasn’t able to return, showed the calf himself.Unfortunately, the steer was sent off quickly, leaving Mayberry to ponder what went wrong.“I showed in the late ’80s, Limousin steers, out of Bellaire High School FFA in Houston,” Mayberry said. “I never finished less than third. I thought surely I’d make the sale. Can you believe that judge didn’t use my steer?”The girl, whose mom asked us not to name, walked out favoring her right arm, but didn’t require medical treatment.Mayberry returned to his duties, which included handing out prize ribbons and helping haul in the occasional loose calf. – Terry Evans

It seemed perhaps like an unlikely match when the North Texas Tollway Authority decided to set up a booth at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, and try to sell attendees TollTags.

After all, much of the opposition to toll roads in Texas comes from the state's rural areas.

But as the Stock Show enters its final day of this year's festivities (Saturday), it turns out that the tollway authority has won over more than a few new customers.

The agency, which is based in Plano, has distributed 193 new TollTags at the Stock Show, spokesman Michael Rey said Friday.

"It is critical for us to get the word out to drivers so they can be aware of how they can use a TollTag to get the lowest possible rate," Rey said.

What makes the tollway authority's sales strategy make sense is a project known as Chisholm Trail Parkway. It's a planned toll road extending 28 miles from Interstate 30 near downtown Fort Worth to U.S. 67 in Cleburne. The project opens up a whole new potential customer base for the tollway authority, which in the past has focused most of its marketing efforts on the north Dallas area.

In addition to Chisholm Trail Parkway, which is scheduled to open possibly in May - a month earlier than previously disclosed - motorists on the west side of the Metroplex soon will be able to use the TollTags on managed toll lanes placed on existing freeways. Those roads include I-30, Loop 820, Texas 121/183 and (by 2018) Interstate 35W.

The tollway authority's booth is in the Texas Room at the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibit Hall - adjacent to a boot-shine booth. A steady stream of passers-by has stopped by to inquire about the cost of TollTags, or to gaze at the wall-size map of Chisholm Trail Parkway on display.

"We're probably talking to more than 100 people per day," said one booth attendant, who asked that his name not be used because he's not authorized to speak to the media on behalf of the tollway authority. "On Saturday, we opened up about 35 accounts, with more than 60 TollTags."

On Friday, Bill Newsom of Azle stopped by the tollway authority's booth. Newsom, who already has a TollTag, greeted the representatives politely, but he also vented a bit of his frustration that he recently tried to update his credit card information online but couldn't get through on www.ntta.org.

Overall, Newsom is satisfied with his TollTag. TollTags are mounted on users' windshields, making it possible to pay tolls electronically - and at a discount - rather than waiting for a toll bill to arrive in the mail.

North Texas toll roads did away with human-staffed toll booths in 2010. So now, motorists who use toll roads may pay either with a windshield device such as a TollTag, or they can wait for the tollway authority - which uses license plate photography to keep track of vehicles on its roads - to send a bill in the mail.

"I have a TollTag, but about the only time I use it is when the grandkids have sports in McKinney, or something like that," he said, smiling.

In all, the tollway authority manages 1.4 million TollTag accounts, with 2.8 million actual TollTags placed on vehicles. Most TollTag accounts include more than one TollTag, because families with multiple cars will pay for the TollTags with a single account.

In all, the tollway authority representatives staffing a booth at the Stock Show made contact with 6,196 customers, including 29 bilingual contacts, Rey said. Those contacts resulted in 146 new TollTag accounts being opened, and 193 TollTags being issued.

Eating fun food is one of the best reasons to visit the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, although some of the items can be a bit pricey.

Here's a tip for those on a budget: Wander through the Texas Room in the Amon G. Carter Jr. exhibits hall, and look for a nice couple from Oklahoma City. Wilda and Gary Harrison are regulars here, and they specialize in selling Company's Comin' soups and casseroles. The items are roughly $9 each, but Gary Harrison is happy to provide passers-by with as many free samples as they like.

On a recent visit, he offered a visitor no less than seven one-ounce servings of fare such as Grandpa Bo's Baked Potato Soup, Old Mexico Cheese Soup and King Ranch Casserole.

All the soup and casserole mixes are made at the company's headquarters in Hearne, just north of Bryan/College Station. It's a family operation, and the Harrison's are distance cousins - or, as Wilda Harrison says, "the gypsies of the family, who do all the traveling."

As for the free samples, Wilda Harrison says it boosts sales tremendously.

"People like to taste what they're buying," she said. "Some people do make a meal of it, and that's just fine."

Dennis Sieren watched his son walking amid a chaos of pigs in the show arena of the Fort Worth Stock Show's swine barn.Pride was obvious in the 77-year-old Siren's eyes. Jayme Sieren, 47, not only followed his father into the family business of breeding show pigs, but also made himself such an expert that he's been a successful swine judge for a decade. Thursday, the Sieren family patriarch stood on the top bench of a crowded viewing stand with his sister-in-law, Marilyn Sieren, who came down with the men from their farm in Keota, Iowa, and his niece, Kristin Sieren, of Austin."Pigs are the center of our family knot," Dennis Sieren said. "We've always been in it as a way of living." – Terry Evans

February 06, 2014

A dusting of snow likely made folks drive more carefully on their way to the Fort Worth Stock Show Thursday morning. But there was no sign that it was keeping them away.“The parking lots are full of people showing animals,” said Patsy Malone, one of the ladies at the information booth in Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibits Hall. “I can’t see that the weather has affected the crowds at all. This is Stock Show weather, after all.”Firefighters at Station No. 80, which is on the Stock Show grounds, said the temperature at 11:15 a.m. was 18, with a wind chill of 7.But by Thursday afternoon the wind had died to almost nothing, the snow had stopped and folks who weren’t taking careful steps to avoid sliding were running down streets and sliding on purpose.

That's what Tuff Hedeman's son, 18-year-old Trevor, and Conner Riddle, 17, of Graham, were doing.In Cattle Barn 2 the atmosphere was a little warmer than it had been Wednesday, but folks were still bundled up and some sought warmth anywhere they could – like the heat coming off powerful work lights.The Swine Barn was a lot warmer. And while that might have been more comfortable, the layer of snow on the roof caused vapor exhaled by hundreds of pigs and people in the Junior Barrow Show to condense on the steel beams supporting it and drip incessantly on everyone’s heads. – Terry Evans

Trevor Hedeman, 18, from Morgan Mill, left, and Conner Riddle, 17, of Graham, slide on a thin layer of snow on Burnett-Tandy Drive at the Fort Worth Stock Show. Photo by Terry Evans

Chad Caperton, 38, left, Tracy Williams, 39, and Jason Cleere, 39, all of Madisonville, huddle for warmth around a high wattage work light in Cattle Barn 2 of the Fort Worth Stock Show. Photo by Terry Evans

Steve Roberts, 58, of Fort Worth, sweeps snow off a sidewalk at the Stock Show. Photo by Terry Evans

February 05, 2014

Kaylan Poe, 5, of Needville, wants to be a rancher when he grows up. And even when he's at the Fort Worth Stock Show, where his brother, 12-year-old Kolton, is showing steers and goats, he can't stop thinking about it.“He got a set of pens and John Deere tractors here last year” to go with his trucks and stock trailers, said his mom, Stephanie. “He’s always got a truck with a trailer on it hauling cattle.”Kaylan took over a corner of the hallway outside the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibits Hall Wednesday to lay out his mini ranch on a blanket. It was a warm break from the chill of the cattle barns where his brother was minding his projects.Kaylan came by his passion naturally, Stephanie Poe said.“My husband and I are both ag teachers at Needville High School,” she said.

Keylan Poe, 5, kills time in the Amon G. Carter Exhibits Hall with his toy ranch. Photo by Terry Evans

Cade Hurst, 14, of Farwell, was bundled in a good jacket as he played an air hose over the coat of his brother’s exotic steer Wednesday.Opposite him and helping, Britiney Creamer, 24, of Montrose, Colo., was dressed even better against the weather, wearing a coat with a fur-lined hood.“I’m warm enough in my coat, but my cowboy boots? No.” Creamer said. “My feet are freezing.”The National Weather Service website showed 24 degrees in Fort Worth about noon Wednesday, with a wind chill of about 14. Inside the Fort Worth Stock Show’s cattle barns, folks were thinking the temperature was somewhere between those numbers. But that was OK.“Cattle do a lot better when it’s cold,” said Trey Robertson, 42, of Breckenridge. “We’d rather it be 30 than 60 any day. This is a hair show. The more hair you’ve got the better your chances. If they get hot, they’ll slip their hair, and they won’t eat.”Thursday should be delightful for the steers being readied for various show classes. Lows will be in the teens and there’s a chance of snow. Combined with north winds of 10 to 15 mph, the temps will make wind chills in single digits here, and slipping below zero in counties north and west of Tarrant, the weather service said.Those counties will be under a wind chill advisory from 3 a.m. to noon, the weather service said, adding that frostbite, injury to outdoor pets and freezing of exposed pipes were possible. – Terry Evans

Cade Hurst, 14, of Farwell, left, and Britney Creamer, 24, of Montrose, Colo., are bundled up against the cold as they work on an exotic steer being shown by Hurst's brother, Trey, 15, at the Fort Worth Stock Show. Photo by Terry Evans

February 04, 2014

There’s lots of time to kill between arriving at the Fort Worth Stock Show and actually walking your animal into a show arena. So along with an American middleweight steer, Kater Tate, 12, of McLean, brought a couple of lariats and a Heel-O-Matic calf dummy to practice roping.“I like to team rope when I can,” he said. “And this gives me something to do.” – Terry Evans

Kater Tate, 12, of McLean, lands another clean toss of his lariat over the horns of a calf dummy. Photo by Terry Evans

Sullivan Supply sent 17-year-old Tim Mardeson from Iowa City, Iowa, to the Fort Worth Stock Show to sell stuff like Tail Adhesive to folks showing cattle here.“It’s like women’s hair spray, only a lot tougher,” Mardeson said. “It’s to hold hair together wherever you want it, like on the backs of a steer’s legs. It makes the leg look fuller, like the bones are bigger and the joints smaller. That’s what judges look for.”Of course, after clumping your steer’s hair together with the glue-like substance in Tail Adhesive before the judging, you’ve got to get it out with something once the judging’s done.For that, Sullivan has Hocus Pocus and Hair Savior – oil-based and soybean-based products, respectively.The 14-by-10-foot booth carries all manner of products and tools that people need to care for their animals and get them ready to show, Mardeson said. The Junior Livestock Show this week takes sales to a new level.“Thursday will be our busiest day,” he said. – Terry Evans

“I was raised on a ranch in Godley,” said Billue, 53, a former mechanic. “I worked with leather a lot. Boots always fascinated me.”

After learning the basics in 1994 from the D.W. Frommer Encyclopedia of Boot Making, Billue got into the art earnestly. For the last 15 years he’s been custom fitting boots for Ramblin Trails Custom Boots in Cleburne. He and fellow boot makers have worked in a booth in the southeast corner of Brown Lupton Exhibits Hall South since the Fort Worth Stock Show opened, helping customers get started on a path toward the best-feeling boots they’ve ever worn.

“A custom boot is made to match a design the customer brings in,” Billue said. “Custom fitting takes it to the next level: a guaranteed fit. We aren’t happy until the customer is happy."

That makes the boots created by Billue and fellow artisans worth the $700 to $5,000 price tag, he said.

“It takes 35 to 40 working hours over a three- to four-week period for wet and dry times,” Billue said. “At least four steps in the process we get the boots wet, mold them, then let them dry.”

Customers don’t have to be around for the molding steps. Before starting on the boots, the maker creates a pair of lasts based on tracings and extensive measurements of the customer’s feet, Billue said. He starts with a resin blank and adds pieces of leather that he sculpts to match the shapes of his customer’s feet.

“Every foot is different,” he said. “Just like every piece of leather is different. I learn something every day.”

Learning about boots lured Billue into his art, so it’s understandable that it keeps him going.

“This is a low-stress job,” he said. “I’m happy doing it. I’m happy with who I am.” — Terry Evans

Barney Billue works on a pair of custom made boots at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. Photo by Greg Ellman

January 31, 2014

Active and retired military and their immediate families get free admission Monday to the 2 p.m. or 7 p.m. rodeo performances. Present your ID at the rodeo ticket box office at the Will Rogers Memorial Center gates that face Lancaster Avenue. Rodeo tickets include general admisstion to the Fort Worth Stock Show.

Some of the longest lines at the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibit Hall can be traced to one booth: The Frontier Fruit & Nut Company.

There, workers sell some of the products most in demand at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo — chocolate pecan fudge, pecan and cashew patties, peanut brittle, even crystal rock candy on a stick.

“The lines are packed in here, two, three, four, five deep on Saturdays and Sundays,” said Lisa Walker of Alvarado, one of the clerks working the booth. “We block the aisles.”Workers estimate they sell between 150 and 200 pounds of fudge a day at a cost of $4.60 (which includes tax) per quarter pound.What’s their secret? Perhaps that “Amish ladies from Pennsylvania make the fudge,” Riva Rigsby, another clerk, said with a smile.— Anna M. Tinsley

Lisa Walker of Alvarado fills a fudge order at the Frontier Fruit and Nut Co. booth in the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibit Hall. Photo by Terry Evans

Some folks like to sit for a $10 shine, others prefer to stand for a free one.But Tona Pettigrew of Lubbock said she and her crew of Urad boot shiners get along fine with the guys at the traditional boot shine stands in the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibit Hall.“We’re here together four weekends a year, and they’re our friends,” Pettigrew said. “They have their loyal customers and we have ours.”Over the 15 years she’s been importing Urad Shoe and Leather Cleaner from Italy, Pettigrew has built a following not only at the Fort Worth Stock Show, but also at biker rallys, gun shows, home and garden shows and farm and ranch shows across six states.The leather conditioner made from lanoline oil, carnuba wax and citrus oils has been popular in Italy for 50 years, Pettigrew said, adding that the shine it leaves lasts as long as a conventional one.“It will make your boots last three times longer, too,” she said.One $24 jar will do about 200 pairs of boots, Pettigrew said. And in booth No. 214, the folks demonstrating Urad polish as many as 1,500 pairs on a busy day.“I went through three jars Saturday,” said Mayme Pierce of Springtown.About 70 percent of the people who lift their boots for the polishers will tip from $1 to $10, said Pierce, who’s between jobs as a construction office assistant.Demonstrating and selling Urad is a way a lot of people get through such times, Pettigrew said.“It beats working for a living,” she said. – Terry Evans

Did you know that cheddar is the most widely-purchased and consumed cheese in the world?

Well, if you didn't, you could learn that little factoid and watch some cow milking at the Southwest Dairy Farmers setup at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.

Stop by the Milking Parlor between Cattle Barn 1 and 2 and you'll find a group of mobile dairy farmers educating the public and providing some comedic relief.

"We need to get back to the basics. Drink milk. Eat a little dirt. Build a fort. Go outside and get dirty," said Todd Griffin, a local Southwest Dairy Farmer.

After meeting with the Southwest Dairy Farmers, you'll walk away with some interesting tidbits about milk such as: farmers near potato chip, chocolate and peanut factories often mix scraps of chocolate bars, peanut shells and potato chips with corn, hay and grass feed.

The sweet and salty additives provide cheap protein for the cows, said Callie Umruh, a Kansas native and Southwest Dairy Farmer.

While a 101.5 temperature would be cause for concern for humans, it's perfectly normal for cows. Fresh milk is sent to cooling tanks where it's cooled to 36 degrees before shipment.

It takes no more than 72 hours to send that milk to stores where it is shelved and ready for purchase.

And what's more, chocolate milk is just as beneficial as regular milk. Just don't tell the kids.

January 29, 2014

Larry "Waddie" Cotton, 70, of Fort Worth, brought his trick roping skills with him when he came to the Fort Worth Stock Show Wednesday to see fellow members of the Cowtown Opry perform western music on the West Arena stage in the Richardson-Bass Building.

“There are a whole lot of little kids playing music and singing songs,” Cotton said. “It’ll be going on until about 6 tonight.”Cotton and other volunteer performers appear almost daily in the Fort Worth Stockyards, operating out of an office in the Livestock Exchange building. He shows off several rope tricks he learned at a ranch in Utica, N.Y., back in the early ‘60s.“I enjoy performing for people,” Cotton said. “I don’t do it for money.”With a Stock Show season pass in his pocket, Cotton’s likely to show up there several times before the final curtain falls Feb. 8. – Terry Evans

January 28, 2014

Bullfighters aren’t scary when they’re wearing clown makeup and bring with them a pair of bull-costumed mascots.So when Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo director Phillip Schutts showed up at Cook Children’s Medical Center with three bullfighters, a country-western singer, four trick riders, a loveable mutt named Yellow Dog and, of course, Hoss and Elwood, the Moosbrothers, there were smiles all around.A couple of dozen kids visited with, got autographs from and even danced with the rodeo stars. The 10th-annual visit was even more effective this year because the action in the atrium was piped into the rooms of children whose conditions wouldn’t let them come downstairs.“It’s an honor for us to take the Stock Show to the children at the hospital,” said spokeswoman Shanna Weaver. – Terry Evans

January 27, 2014

Breast cancer survivors will find a lot of support Tuesday at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.Fans, contestants and performers in everything from the tie-down roping to the Campfire Stories to the rodeo itself who want to show solidarity with the survivors will join them in wearing pink.It's the seventh year in a row for FWSSR Goes Pink Day.Half of the proceeds from Stock Show general admission and rodeo ticket sales will be donated to Susan G. Komen of Greater Fort Worth. Last year, that amounted to $18,860.A Pink Ribbon Rodeo Reception for survivors will be from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Amon G. Carter Cactus Room, where they and their families will meet rodeo contestants and receive special gifts. Then, the survivors will be treated to the 7:30 p.m. rodeo performance.Susan G. Komen has invested more than $2.2 billion in research and programs since 1982, making it the global leader in the breast cancer movement and the world's largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to eradicating breast cancer.One of 123 national affiliates since 1992, the Greater Fort Worth Affiliate of Susan G. Komen uses 75 percent of the money raised by this and other events for education, treatment and prevention services in Tarrant, Parker, Johnson and Hood counties. – Terry Evans

Jerry Wade takes good care of his cattle, including the ones used by 250 teams in the Stock Show's team roping competition and about 275 cowboys who vie in the tie-down roping.

Two-year-old calves that were lassoed about the horns in team roping Monday in John Justin Arena, for instance, were fitted with horn wraps so the tough lariats wouldn't burn them as the noose tightened.

"We brought 200 calves for today and tomorrow," said Wade, owner of the Jerry Wade Cattle Co. in Terrell, a Stock Show contractor. "I try to be as good to them as I can. I want to use them, but not abuse them." – Terry Evans

As a team roping header gets set, Klancy Breaux, left, and Josh Donegan get a 600-pound calf ready to run from the chute in John Justin Arena. Photo by Terry Evans

January 24, 2014

Arrden and Callder Griffith brush feverishly at the coat of Tonto, a 12-year-old tri-color paint horse that's one of 14 the boys use in their dad's trick riding act.Nearby, Demi Trepanier, 11, another Tad Griffith Trick Riding group star, dries one horse after another as they come out of the wash. Along with Tad Griffith's other two sons, Garrison, 5, and Gattlin, 15, and Maddie McDonald, 21, the kids provide seven to eight of the most heart-pounding minutes in each Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo from now to Feb. 8.And when they aren't riding, they're taking care of the horses, Tad Griffith said. -- Terry Evans

Arrden Griffith, 10, left, and Callder Griffith, 12, brush down Tonto, a 12-year-old tri-color paint horse that's one of 14 used in the Tad Griffith Trick Riding act at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. Photo by Terry Evans

A cluster of kids huddled Friday afternoon around a heat lamp in the Pictures with the Baby Animals booth. They were, of course, baby goats, and four of them were as close to the lamp as their number would allow.Shawn Morrison, who was running the Picture on the Pony booth on the other side of the entryway in the Fort Worth Stock Show’s sheep barn, said the temperature in her booth was 32 degrees. Ironically, the outside temperature was 38 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.“Yesterday it was really hard to stay warm,” said Morrison, of LBR Ranch in North Richland Hills. “It’s a little warmer today because the sun came out.”It should be even easier to stay warm Saturday and Sunday, as the weather service predicted highs of 68 and 72, respectively. – Terry Evans

Four kids crowd around a heat lamp at the Pictures with the Baby Animals booth just inside the Fort Worth Stock Show's sheep barn, where the temperature Friday afternoon was 32 degrees. Photo by Terry Evans

January 23, 2014

Cameron Fallon simply couldn’t miss school this week, so a couple of friends in Grayson County 4-H stepped up to help him.

“I really should be working on my daughter’s heifer,” said Jeff Sargent, 49, as he held a forced-air hose that was blowing dust out of a shorthorn heifer’s hair. On the other side of the stall in Cattle Barn No. 1, Justin Carney, 23, was doing the same. It's not unusual to find folks helping one another as Fort Worth Stock Show events approach. Fallon’s heifer is scheduled for the Junior Breeding Heifer Show Saturday.

Candy Corn, the 2-year-old Limousin that belongs to Sargent’s daughter, Harley, was in the adjoining stall and is scheduled to show Sunday. A proven winner who was grand champion in Waco and Wichita Falls shows, the heifer was next in line to be pampered. But Harley was in classes, too.

“Even when the the kids can’t be here, there’s work that needs to be done,” Sargent said. – Terry Evans

James Parken, 2, could only stand and watch his 4-year-old brother, Everett, and his dad, Adam, 35, pedaling side by side on Planet Agriculture’s wind-energy demonstration bikes.But when James went into the nearby Harvest Experience simulator with his grandpa, John Parken, it was a different story. As the elder Parken worked the controls in the mock-up of a fancy modern tractor, James turned the steering wheel like a lifelong farmer, guiding them through the rows of corn projected on screens around them.“It’s like our flight simulators,” said John Parken, 68. “I work for Bombardiere at D/FW Airport, where we train pilots for the business aircraft we make.”Though the controls weren’t as complicated as an airplane’s, there were enough pedals, levers and buttons to give the Parken patriarch pause. And he said it didn’t take a lot of imagination to feel like he and his grandson were actually rolling through a corn field.Harvest Experience and the renewable energy exercise bikes are among more than half a dozen interactive displays in Planet Agriculture. The large space in Fort Worth Stock Show’s poultry barn is devoted to answering consumers’ questions about where the stuff they eat, drink, wear and use comes from, said spokesman Baron Bartels of the Texas Farm Bureau.“Our primary goal is to promote agriculture and educate the community on where food, fiber and fuel come from,” Bartels said. -- Terry Evans

January 21, 2014

A trip back to Bell City, La. (near Lake Charles), looked brighter for Ashlee Primeaux, who on Tuesday was carrying home her Nigerian Dwarf goats and a grand-champion ribbon that one of them captured.The teenager’s last few years of showing various animal projects have been fruitful.“Between the goats and the cows, I’ve won four belt buckles,” Primeaux said.Fort Worth has been good for the Louisiana native. She also picked up reserve champion this year in the fall heifer division with a Braford.“This is my second year in Fort Worth with a goat,” Primeaux said. “It’s my first year with a cow.”Primeaux’s competition should be looking over their shoulders. – Terry Evans

A fidget of farm girls giggled as they tickled a half dozen piglets in a pen at the FFA Children’s Barnyard.Always a major kid magnet, the Barnyard is a permanent fixture of the Fort Worth Stock Show, commanding a big space between the swine and sheep barns near the southwest entrance to the grounds.A dozen breeds from seven animal species are on display. And, with the exception of a Crossbred sheep and her lamb and a miniature Zebu (South Asian cattle breed that looks similar to a Brahma, but is about a quarter the size) and her calf, the FFA volunteers can hold the babies up to the fences so guests get a closer look.Piglets are adorable and really fun to play with, said a couple of 17-year-old Grandview FFA girls named Abby Reynolds and LeAnn Pollock.“I’ve shown pigs since 2008,” Pollock said. “I’ve gotten grand champion overall at the Johnson County Junior Livestock Show. When they’re babies, you just want to hold them and play with them. But, I do like bacon.”The Barnyard is open from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and FFA volunteers are there to answer questions from 9 a.m. to about 5 p.m. most days. – Terry Evans

January 18, 2014

Andrew Douglas has a full-time shoe-shining job at the Stockyards. But once a year — this is the seventh — he gets his buddies Charles Hill and Frank (just Frank, don’t ask) and sets up a three-chair boot-shine station at the Stock Show just to mess around.“This is for fun, to get away from the store and meet new people,” Douglas said.As Douglas was talking to someone, Hill started sounding like a carnival barker.“Boot shine!” Hill shouted. “Got one left.”Whoever gets in the chair gets one boot shine, Hill explained.“I got a song, too,” Hill said.“Oh, please don’t,” Douglas said.“Ba-ba-ba-boot shine,” Hill sang in a bass register. “That’s all I wrote so far.”Shines are $10 at Andrew’s Shoe Shine, at the southeast entry to the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibits Hall. How long they take is determined by the condition of the boots, Douglas said. But when customers walk away, their boots are, indeed, shining. — Terry Evans

Six people solved the world’s problems Friday seated in a stall at the head of a string of dairy cows in Cattle Barn 2.“This is a ritual thing,” said Ann Smith, 72, who brought a half-dozen Jerseys from her RRS Farms in Royse City to the Stock Show.Smith was jawing with her friends Mozelle Wilson and Cynthia Harris as her husband, Bobby Smith, jawed with his buds Dewayne Wilson and Jimmy Harris.Coming to Fort Worth is the Smiths’ vacation from Royse City. Their friends join them just to spend time together.The stall where they relaxed was decorated with a red carpet, a red-and-white barn door backdrop and old-style red lanterns (converted to battery-powered lights).A red toolbox almost as big as a freezer sported an American flag.Ann Smith said she’s done more elaborate stall decorations in the past 30 years of showing cattle.“There’s a sense of pride in decorating a stall to sit in,” she said.But these days, the company she keeps is more important than the accommodations. — Terry Evans

One of the Stock Show food concessions that is particularly popular with exhibitors is the Texas Skillet, located just outside Cattle Barn 4.It earns its name with a giant skillet (7 ft. in diameter) where all manner of eggs, steak, chicken and vegetables are gilled up to go into a wide offering of tacos and burritos.But the exhibitors, who parade by the stand in great numbers on their way to their stock in the cattle barns, are not the only ones who love the stand’s Texas-themed fare.“Those potatoes come in 50 lb. bags,” says Laura Houchin, who has been operating the stand at the Stock Show for the past 8 years, “and on a busy day we will go through 15 or 20 bags of those.”The lines are often long for the Texas Skillet’s breakfast offerings, when sleepy stock fitters are trying get fortified for their day, but Houchin says the best-selling item is the Cowboy Burrito — a hearty union of steak, potatoes, veggies and cheese.“And we’re really famous for our ice tea,” adds Houchin. — Punch Shaw

You never know who is going to drop by the media office at the Stock Show. Among the unexpected visitors Saturday was a sparrow, who fluttered around the room before settling under a desk.With all the doors constantly swinging open, and all the bird-enticing crumbs and bits of livestock feed in every nook and cranny of the Stock Show grounds, indoor avian visits are not an uncommon thing.In fact, the sparrow we had in the media office may have been part of the pair I saw in the main exhibits hall before it opened Friday, which was happily using a water fountain as a birdbath. — Punch Shaw

There are no toll roads at the Stock Show, but a Toll Tag will get you in free.The North Texas Tollway Authority, in partnership with the Stock Show, has designated every second weekday of the event as a “Toll Tag Tuesday.” On those days, anyone with a toll tag who pays to park in an official Stock Show lot will receive a voucher for one free grounds admission — a $10 value — that can be used on any day. Don’t have a toll tag? Visit the NTTA’s booth in the Stock Show’s main exhibits hall in the Amon G. Carter Building and they can fix that. — Punch Shaw

The Fort Worth Stock Show opens at 8 a.m. Friday with free admission until 4 p.m. General admission after that is $10 for adults, $5 for 6 to 16, free for 5 and younger. Shopping at Amon Carter Exhibits Hall (on the west side of the campus) and Brown-Lupton Exhibit Halls (on either side of the Richardson Bass Building on the east side of the campus) opens at 10 a.m. Best of the Ranch Rodeo performances Friday and Saturday are sold out.

A seven-month-old black European Cross steer appropriately named Lunchbox won grand champion at the Fort Worth Stock Show today.

Stock Martin, the 12-year-old boy from Hereford who showed Lunchbox, is no stranger to the winner’s circle, having shown reserve grand champion steer at the Stock Show last year and grand champion steer at the State Fair of Texas in the fall.

“It’s so exciting I can’t explain it,” the boy said, as he answered questions from the news media after his big win, exchanging high fives and big smiles with family members and a tearful hug with his mother, Sherri Martin. “We knew we had a good one when he was born.”

Lunchbox will be sold in the Stock Show’s annual show-ending Junior Sale of Champions Saturday morning. If history is any guide, Lunchbox will bring more than $200,000 that will be funnelled into Stock’s college savings and buying more cattle.

The Stock Show three years ago set up an extensive recycling and composting program. A nose-holding 1,905 tons of animal bedding and manure was generated last year. That's 3.8 million pounds of the stuff, said Matt Brockman, administrative manager for the stock show.

The bedding (cattle use straw or wood shavings; hogs and other animals use shavings) is separated from other waste. It is put in blue metal, wheeled containers inside the barns called gondolas. They hold about 300 gallons. Forklifts pick them up and take them to 30 yard roll off Dumpsters, which are hauled by trash vendor Progressive Waste Solutions to a landfill on the south side of Fort Worth, Brockman said.

"They take animal bedding an manure and blend it with city yard waste for compost," he said. "It runs 24-7. They pull them day and night."

February 05, 2013

George Collins is constantly facing an uphill battle in Cattle Barn 4. Three times during the Fort Worth Stock Show, he and another man must completely clean out the barn and get it ready for another round of cattle. Before the steers started arriving at the crack of dawn Tuesday, he spent all day Monday getting ready. "We did it in 8 hours this time," Collins said. "Sometimes it takes as long as 10 hours but we were pretty fast this time." While Tuesday was the hectic move-in day for steers, Collins, who works as a landscaper the rest if the year, said it was relatively calm for him. He was sweeping away manure and stray bits of hay but said it was nothing compared to Monday. "This is an easy day for us," he said. "We just welcome everybody and help them get settled. It's like a reunion for us. We see so many of the same people each year."

February 04, 2013

The mild weather has helped boost Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo attendance, but police and firefighters say the big crowds haven't translated into more problems.

A Fort Worth police officer sitting quietly at a security command post Monday morning said officers have responded to the usual calls - a lost wallet, a wandering child - but have seen nothing out of the ordinary.

"All is quiet on the home front," said Officer Scott, who declined to give his first name. "Not much to report."

Police don't reveal how many officers work at the stock show for security reasons, he said. Part of their time is spent minding the show's lost and found, where car keys, sunglasses and even some money have been turned in.

Nearby, Fort Worth firefighters staff a temporary fire station, responding to roughly six to eight calls a day, fire Lt. Heath Turner said. Those calls have included treating people with breathing problems, fall injuries and helping people who get locked out of their cars or trucks.

"Every now and then you get a trash fire or a horse trailer with a small fire," he said. "But it's mostly quiet."